nsmv AUGUST 22, 1921 .
mvssn-ia 5‘. coscnovs,
Br
Anna-rt Mnnagcr of thc_,Burnc
intmnntlon-l Detective Agency.
,‘u sci down by Ridiey Wills.
' 1.
NTlL midwinter of 1916 Rich-
! I nrd J. Wyckoff. an aged and
decrepit farmer, lamc in his
it ft but and long past his career of
mtivlty, lived ln'a little cottage in
inst Amwell tdwnshlp at the base
of Sourlnnd Mountain. in Hunterdon
county, New Jersey. Souriand
. Mountain is the farthest remnant
' . north tlmt lwloncs to the Blue Ridge
grunge. its name is descriptive of it
Sand its vicii'iitv. for the soil on its
NOD69 and at its foot is sterile and
barren as rock. The folk who liyo
on the mountain and in the little
(‘l‘mYlllihlliOS surrounding it are poor
and struggling. They are modern
Inmlguwulsmcn. ignorant but thrifty
lairnrrs——-lhr;l‘ty because they must
in so in orxio-r to live. The houses
, 1v hmlniwl (”Ll every family lives in
:wiimws r—‘wiuirJ'ltml 11y lnllf‘s from
~< in m» v‘. i.~‘i‘_’illlv‘l‘llll: family.
'2 'i‘..l"'l ‘»V')'t‘ltoiff was such a
. it know mn~or rcthcr hr- had
'n. N: .V his prlmo was far lit-hind
i:.m. lie was k3 years old. lint he
:11 lw':'.<i~tmi in his isulrition, living
:i lit: u cottage inadequately at-
mlml l-v his lmuswkoclwr, Miss
' 'nv Aim it"lsllt‘l". a, woman of
.. l‘s’wli‘ almost as feeble as tho
vll l‘lli man.
imrd \\‘yr‘lcoi‘f was accounted a
~~ by the talk of the mountains,
.tl lili' rumor was spread about the
.n'rysilio, nnd believer], that no
‘mul concealed in his cottage thou‘
l +th of dollars in gold.
This old man and his housekeeper
“‘v’rv so helpless in the grip of old
age that they must have died of
neglect had it not lmcn for a neigh-
bor who came every day to their
home to cut wood for their fires, to
go to the village store to do their
buying for them and to perform
whatever little duties were required
to keep them in comfort. This kind
hr artod neighbor was .lnmcs VVyckoff.
a l: mic-r and fisherman, who lived in
2i shack three miles away from the
palace of Richard Wyckofl'. Al-
9.‘ (ugh the two men bore the same
iz‘erilne they were not related. It
i :t have been sheer kindheartcd—
-;4 that brought James—a man of
wars—to the home of old Rich-
i> every day. At any rate his
;:s to the home of the feeble old
I‘ wore attributed by tho mountain
k to a spirit of compassion.
li*~t‘._ it not been for James \‘Vyc-
in ff it is certain that llivhard “'y'c-
koi‘t‘ and Catherine Ann Fisher
could never have survived the rigo-
rous wintnr of '14-'13. As it was.
tiny dill nut live through the winter
of '16. but it was nOt the grim reaper
that Cut them down.
it was murder.
, .
i
II.
wt after noon on February 11.
.~ .l ,mvs \Vyr'kol‘t’ came running
-<nm"k speed toward the door
”Mummy :1 half mile from the
tivclml’f cottage. This farm-
;lzn nearest habitation to
r. 1 «(mt where the old man
_ W: hand James carried
n, ‘it it] of which there
' liwvl. The farmer
use saw James
: nut to meet him.
1 llfll. trOtlhle there
H‘fvaIy James told of
- :l.
m thncottage as usual
will, and to his sur-
.’ ' -:r.l 'hvw front door bolted
‘ ill» harl knocked. but
l~wn :nl fillH‘u‘v'Ol'o MyHti-
' mine; around to a side
into the living
first thing he saw
window was the couch
it old lichard had been
in take his daily siesta
Then, looking down a:
Eaul caught sight of the
.'< lmiy. lying face-down
: ltrinrc the overturned
, :w lies beside him. Then
~l in run for assistance
. , mwvs, and as he made
-' r . i found the ax which
' ; against .t tree. He
might. need it for
i» had brought it with
lilillhwi
farmer went back
inn-then They broke
1‘ and saw that this
li-Itt-d it from the in-
nmn which there was
‘i'ln-y went to the living
on the floor old Rich-
‘u ad. his skull crushed
a sign in the house of
fur, Fisher. James and
wt out to search thfi
.i‘ iix‘st the farmer’s sun.
‘ ’ ? mturally dwelt upon
, V l. but when after n
...z: N ‘in-y did not find the
t:.-- farmer began to
, Micther or not it would
unable for such a. feeble
it in wield a weapon so ef-
3‘ fund her body. One 02
“j M23 in the barn, stumbled
5.1“? “f Straw in the vestibule
Heidi. 2:“- struck a resistance les-
its 33:75am the straw. The top of
was removed and the body
0: 3“: h9“’¢.‘»
“keeper was found. still
~ ‘ '2: the house through ’
Mu Mosi Thril ina ‘
warm. but nevertheless without life.
Her skull too had been crushed.
"Well," the farmer said, “it must
a-been done by somebody who knew
how to get about. the place. I'm go-
ing to telephone to Flemington for
the officers; better go along with me.
Jim." '
When the county officials arrived
at the scene of the murder, Sheriff
Sharpe in command, they set. out: at
onee to go through the house to dis-
cern whether robbery was the mo-
tive for the crime, and before they
had completed their search they had
established to their entire satisfaC¢
tion that the aim of the murder or
murderers had indeed been robbery
at the beginning. Mattresses WCTO
ripped, furniture was overturned.
burrnu (lrmvurs wore smashed. cabi-
nets were unhincwl. (VEI'S'UlmF was
topsy-turvy. In {l table tlrslwm‘ the
officers found ”in will of Richard
T'Vyckol'f consicninz all his belong-
ings to James “'yckofi’. his bene-
‘aflgr. .
’ Many neighbors were. present at
the scene prepared to assist the
oiiicials, and they were quick to‘ say
that a great deal of money had been
hidden in the house. lut the Sheriff
qur-slinned James, who would have
hen the most likely pi rson to know
whether any money was there, and
he asserted that there was only a.
small amount—something like 3100—"— '
in a bag.
There had been a light fall of snow
the night before the murder, just
enough to leave a. clear footprint, and
after completing the search of the
house the thoughts of the officers
turned to the snow in the hope that
tracks might be found leading away
from the cottage.
In the smatter of snow the Sherifl
found tracks.
He and 8. deputy follaned the foot-
print trail for a mile along the
mountainside and at last came to a.
bowlder in an obscure spot, beside
which were lying a pair of brown
overalls and a. jacket to mntch. The
prints on the bowldcr and on the
snow about it proved that some one
had sat on the stone to remove the
garments. After searching the
pockets the officials followed the trail
from the rock three miles to a road,
where the prints were lost.
In the pockets of the jumper or
jacket were found a blue polka dot
handkerchief, a few wisps of straw
like the straw that had hidden the
corpse of Catherine Fisher and some
matches. .
“'ith these bits of possible evi-
dence the Sheriff and his deputy
wm‘. back to the cottage. They
called for James Wyckot‘f and had
him fit. his feet. in the tracks in the
snow. James's feet were consider-
ably bigger than the footprints.
Ill.
Down near Durling's general store
in East Amwell township :1 roving
deputy picked up a suspicious char-
acter at about the time James \Vyck-
off was trying his feet to the shoe
prints. The deputy arrested a. squat
101' on the mountain whose name
Was lilontford L'dcll and took him to
Flemington. the county seat of Hun-
terdon ccgnty. to explain his pres-
ence in the vicinity of the crime.
Before a. magistrate in Flomington
that afternoon L'dell furnished a.
satisfactory alibi in the form of a.
receipt for a registered letter mailed
a short while before noon at the
Bound Brook post office. He said
the letter inclosed his poll tax pay-
ment. He was released, bu': for a.
day or two he was watched.
IV.
The county authorities continued
their investigation for several days
quietly.
Then one day James Wyckoff
drove his buggy into town, bringing
with him a bag in which was con-
tained about 8100. He turned the
bag over to the Sheriff and told him
he had found it in one of the bureau
drawers in the murder cottage that
day.
,A few minutes after James arrived
in the Sheriff's office and told his
story a deputy sheriff came in and
swore to his superior that he had
searched every drawer in the house
on the day of the murder and was
positive that there had been no. bag
of money in any of them. .
Naturally the Sheriff grew more
suspicious of James than he had
been, and he had already been sus-
picious. , ’ 1
That night he turned over in his
mind the details of the situation:
James Wyckot'f was we sole heir of
the murdered man: he was accus-
tomed to make daily visits to the
cottage. Why. it he was not the
murderer. did he not burst through
the door of the house after he had
looked through the window at the
prone body of RichardWyckoff, and
why had the bloody ax been in his
hand when he ran to the nearest
farmhouse to tell of the murder?
Sher-ii! Sharpe and County Prose-
cutor Kuhl set their wits to working
to build up a circumstantial case
against James Wyckoif, for they
were both firmly Oonflnced that ”9
was the perpetrator of the double
murder.
On the day James reported he had
found the money in the cottage 805-
sip began on the mountain,_ and in
But Amwell township. New 805519.
in an affair of this sort. has the fac—
ulty of convincing itself of many
things—4111 fact of whatever it wants
to become convinced. There was no
subject: of talk in the community that. »
did not eventually Adrift. around to
t"
\
bold speculation on whether or not
James Wyckoff had murdered the old
couple, and it was the general opin-
ion that he had. “'ithin a. few days
there had appeared at Sheriff
Sharpe‘s office in Fiemington more
than one witness willing to testify
that he had seen James Wyckoff
nagging by on his way to the cot-
tage at the foot of the mountain an -
hour at. least before noon. According
to the County Medical Examiner the
murder had been committed at noon
or near that hour.
From that it was easy to build
against James such a strong cir-
cumstantial case that thereyvas com-
plete justification for arresting him.
He was indicted by the Grand Jury
on two charges of first degree mur-
der and held without bail for the ac-
tion of the District Court. He pro~
tested his innocence, of course. but
that was unavailing. and he stayed
in prison from the last day of Feb-
[HOW Selma Lagerlof Wrote
F famous books that were the
O literary sensation in past
decades some died with the
era to which they belonged, others
live only in colic-gs courses of re-
quired literature, but. there are those
which survive with remarkable vital-
ity the shifting literary fushidns and
are read with as much interest and
understanding to-duy as when they
first appeared. One of these is "The
Story of (josta Beriing." The his-
tory of this book is a romance. It
begins early in Selma Lagcriof's
childhood, when the frail little girl
who could not romp with her
brothers and sisters used to sit with
the grown folk and listen to the
legends of the countrysnie and the
account. of adventures that they
told each other. Mai-backs. Manor,
her home, was a hospitable estate
pervaded with a certain air of rest-
fulness and peace. There were
always guests, but those whom the
child liked best were the aged and
poverty stricken army officers who
drove up to the doorway behind ‘
rickety old carryalls and visited for
weeks. In the evening. when the
teddy had put courage into them,
they talked of the gay times when
they had danced in stockingless
shoes so that their feet would look
small and told how they had been
hunted by wolves when they drove
their pretty young sweethearts home
from Christmas feasts or how they
met. on some lonely road the superin-
tendent of the foundries, who always
drove black bulls to his wagon when
he returned home from n. revel. or
heard the tinkle of his wife's piano,
who played for the Evil One him-
self as he sat in her drawing room
and rocked in her rocker.
As the girl grew up she dreamed
of writing famous plays. poems and
romances. but when she had passed
her twentieth year she became 1m-
patient of success and Journeyed up
to Stockholm to prepare for teach-
ing. After she had been living a
couple of months among gray six-gets .
and house wall: it: suddenly occurred
to her one day that 'the reason she
could n'ot write was because she had
been patterning after the grim
French realist: who were moulding
the literary style of the hour. ml
had tried to write about things that
she did not know. “Val-inland, with
* its rich legends and romance: that
she had absorbed since her child-
hood. was enrich a field for ma.-
terial a.- nhc could wish and :11.
would write her story in her own
.style instead of conforming“tot or
‘mode which was to her manned ”‘1"
if“?
' scripts expired
ruary until- the second week in June
following. when his case was brought
up for trial.
In the network of evidence WOVen
by the county authorities using: the
defendant there was lacking but one
mesh. That. was evolved from the
do: that the footprints of Wyckoft
had not matched the prints in' the
snow, of which the sheriff had taken
the dimensions for some future use.
He thought reasonably that he would
have use for these measurements, for
he believed with the County Prose-
cutor that the footprints as well as
the brown overalls foundbcside the
boulder on the mountain were to be
explained in that James ”fillyckot‘f had
an accomplice in crime.
IVyckoi‘f was placed on trial in
June to answrr the charge of having
killed old Richard. Harry C. Stout,
a Flemington attorney, was appoint-
ed special prosecutor to conduct the
case against the accused. The pris-
unnatural.
Finally in the spring of 1890 [dun
held a prize conlpelitinll for short
novelettes. Miss Lagerlof's sister
suggested that she send “The Story
of Gusto. Berling." Just eight days
before the time for submitting manu-
she selected five
chapters and sent them. A month
late-r she read a notice in Idun that
some of the manuscripts submitted
were so confusodiy written that they
could not be considered. That ended '
Miss Lagerlof’s hopes. for, of course,,
one of them was "Go-“ta Binding."
One after-noun in November she
received a telegram of congratula-
tion from a friend in Stockholm.
" losta. Berling" had won the prize.
The editor of Idun volunteered to
print the book as soon as it was
finished, but she was afraid there
ouer was wen" defended by local at—
torneys. who stressed the tracks in
the snow and the overalls that were ,
traced by means of the footprints.
to the base of the boulder. Because
of this element in the case and be-
cause of thé inevitable doubt it
aroused in the minds of the jurymen
James Wyckcff was acquitted on the
Breathlessly James told of what he had seen.
first indictment’i—but acquitted by
the skin of his teeth.
to conviction.
Pending the indictment on the
charge of killing the aged woman
“fivckot‘f was released in $10,000
bail, and immediately he went back
to the mountain and to his fishing
and hunting.
Prosecutor Kuhl , still believed
“'yclcorf was guilty and that he had
an accomplice to account for the,
footprints in the snow. He investi-
gated for two months after the trial
in the hope of uncovering this ac-
complice, and then, backedby promi-
“Gosta Berling”
would never be any time to write it.
The Baroness Alder Spat-re. a. noted
Swedish writer and publisher, pro,-
cured the money to enable her to take
a year’s leave of absence from
school and finish the book. Settled
in a little villa in Varmland Miss
Lagcriof spent the happiest year of
her life, for she had freedom to work
fronnnlorning till night. This story
was like Aladdin‘s magic iatnp for
recognition. The Swedish Academy
voted 3 small yearly som which
enabled Miss_Lagerlof to devote her
entirevtlme to writing. A few years
lute-r she,was made the only woman
member of the academy. one of s
most exclusive group of immortals
in the world. and in 1909 she re-
ceived the Nobel Prize for literature
on the only occasion that it has ever
been awarded to a woman.
He came near ,
* A ' Mountain
'Murder _Mystery
pent citizens 'of the county. retained
the Burns agency to find Jams
Wyckbff’s helper. Prosecutor Kuhl
realized that it would. be futile to
press the Second indictment with
evidence identical to that which
failed to convict in the first trial.
V.
I was sent: down to Flemington
from the Burns New York office to
take charge of the investigation.
' With me I had a half dozen or more
operatives to work in the mountain -
section secretly. I worked openly
with the county officials. My asso-
ciates established themselves incog‘
rum in East Amwell township and
over Sour-land Mountain in the hope
of uncovering by strategy some lead
to the accomplice of Wycliot‘f. One
in particular was stationed so that
it'tyouid be a simple matter for him
to gain the suspect’s friendship and
confidence.
After twomonths we had learned
only one thing. That was that James
V'V‘Vyckofit' was utterly= innocent. I be-
lieved that there had been” very
nearly a miscarriage of justice, and
so I reported to the authorities. But
we had no proof. and so, in order to
remove the least shadow of'susp'icion
that hung over I‘Vycltoi‘f, we were re-
. tained in continuance for a while.
The hope remained, too.‘ that we
might get a. clew to lead us to the
real criminal.
In our search for evidence we ob-
tained permission from the County
Court to make arrests among the
mountain folk whenever we thought
it advisable—whenever we had rea-
son to believe that we might: learn
something by bringing a. man or a
woman to the county jail for ques-
tioning. , '
Along in October a. bit of informa-
tion came to us in a roundabout way
that we considered vaguely prom-
ising.
This vague hint. of a trail led in-
directly back to Montford Udell, the .
suspicious character who had been
arrested on the day of the murder
and relensed when he furnished a
seemingly safisfactory alibi.
We learned that Alice Mason,-\a
woman once notorious in Trenton,
N. J.. was now living on Sourlahd
Mountain. that she and Udell lived
together. and that she had been
heard to threaten him in the course
of a quarrel with exposure. More-
over, she had gained her point in the
argument upon that threat, we had
been informed. “that struck me as
worth investigating was the matter
in Udell's life which was to be ex—
posed. So far as I knew. he was just
an ordinary squatter. with neither a
reprehensible past nor a promising
future. ‘ '
The sheriff, the county detective
and I went up on the mountain late
one night and headed directly for the
shack in which Udell and Alice
Mason lived. I'Ve crept up to the
window on one side and shot the
rays of a flashlight through. They
* were asleep. As quietly as possible
we forced an entrance in the front
way. Inside we lighted a candle and
placed it upon a table. Then we
called for Alice. .
She came out in her night. gar-
mentshi ,
The sheriff told her she was under
'arreSt, ordering her to dress and go
back to town with us.
"Yl'hat am I under arrest for?"
she asked.
“I want to talk to you." he replied.
"Talk to me here." she suggested.
"No, we want you at the Jail." '
At that moment Udell strolled in.
He was dressedin a pair of trousers
and a. dirty undershirt. gene would
be inclined to think that a man in-
-terrupted in his sleep would be some-
what curious about the presence of
the officers. Not. so with Udell. H9
affected an amazing/air of non-
chalance. He actually yawned, then
turned? to the sheriff and addressed
him familiarly: “How are you mali-
ing out with the case, sheriff?"
I did not give the sheriff a chance
to answer. u. . .
. “What case do you mean?" I
queried. ' .
"The Wyckoi'f case," he said. V
“Oh. that!” I rejoined; “That's
solved. We know all about it."
I saw him turn as pale as a
shroud; then he yawned again. I
decided that his yawn. with his 1111- ~
gers daintly covering the gap, must
be a characteristicggesture whenun-
der excitement. I watched him turn
slowly and look at Alice and then re‘
gain his composure completely before
he spoke again. In that instant he
must have been Wondering what
connection the unexpected arrest‘of
Alice could have on the solution of
the mystery. ' 5 ' '
' “TWéil, no stranger could have done
that. id '" he said at last. "Some-
body on the rmountain must: have
‘done it." ." . 7 . '-
H“We know all about. it," I went on.
{*‘There «is little to do nowbut turn
fbn’tne' electricity.“ ‘ x. ’
, . , on we took Alice back to Flem-
2‘ ' 'dell's /
stranger could not have had "city.-
' thing to do, with the Job was inter;
eating to me. There had been no.
ktalkv bfn stran’ ger'in félaxlon to the
‘ ' murder. befm'e that. . I began to won-
. derbyewha; process, of reasoning
struck me as curious; too, that be
am asked no .quesnons as to" why
quick Suggestion: that a ‘
seemed to take it; 'as a regular pro-
ceeding. Indeed. he appeared to be
in an bnnaturallyrelieved frame of
mind that he was not being arrested.
We questioned Alice all night at
. the jail. and for a long while she held
out firmly against us. But at last. in
the early morning. her patience be-
came exhausted, and then» I sud-
denly~ inquired about the stranger
who had been visiting Udell at the
time of the murder, the stranger be
had been so quick to defend when we
were at the shackron the mountain.
She replied wearily that the stran-
ger’s name was either McLaughlin
or Q’Donnell—she ‘was- not sure
which—but: that she rather thought
.it was McLaughlin. for she seemed
to remember that Udell had called
him “Mac." She believed he had
'told her he had just been released
from the Rahway Reformatory. but
she was not sure‘ about that.
While operatives were busy tho
following day checking up the pres-
ence of the stranger in the vicinitles
of East Amweil township and Zion.
in which latter community Udell
lived. and securing whatever descrip-
tions of him were ossible after so
long a. time, I madé a. hasty trip to
the Railway Reformatory to look up
McLaughlin.
Meanwhile .‘the operatives learned
that Udell’s visitor was remembered
as having worn a blue polka. dot
handkerchief about his neck.
,‘ At Rahway I learned that .VIc-
Iaughlin—fcr his name was Mc—
Laughlin, John McLaughlin-had
broken his parole from the institu-
tion a week before the murder had
taken place. He had been sentenced
to the. reformatory for robbery.
While there he was very friendly
with “Cyclone” Smith, former pugi-
list, who, I learned, had 11¢!) at one
time friendly with Udell. I looked
up Smith and he'aflirmed the fact of
his friendship for both Udell and Mc—
Laughlin. He had told McLaughlin
of the presence of Udell in the vicin-
ity of Sourland Mountain a. few days
before he broke his parole, and had
recommended that: he look up the
squatter who could prorsbiy direct
him to “something easy" in that sec-
tion.
I went back to Fiemington just in
time to learn from one of our secret
operatives that Udell had said he
would smash my face if I came look-
ing for him. That was palpably a.
challenge, and so I went looking for
him. I found him that night in his
shack. I walked up to him.
“'Go ahead," I said.
He looked blank.
"Go ahead and do what?" he ques-
tioned,
“Smash my face," I said.
He laughed.
He was thoroughly capable of hit-
ting me—or shooting me. I never
saw such a murderous face as his
when he laughed that night. But
he must have known I was prepared
for any movement on his part, for
he submitted to arrest.
In the jail finally I told him I knew
everything; that I knew what he and
"Mac" had done; knewkthcir every
movement on the day of the murder.
I urged him to confess to save his
life.
He must have been convinced I
knew a. great deal, for he at once
made an intangible confession.
"What will you do for me if I do
confess?" he. inquired.
Whatever doubts I had were gone.
My suspicions were turned into a
firm belief.
I knew that if I could get Mc-
Laughlin I could get confessions by
working one against thwther. We
sent out a. broadcast warning to pc-
lice oflicers all over the country to
look dut. for McLaughlin. The next
day a. telegram came from Cleveland
saying he was in jail there serving
a thirty day sentence /t‘0r vagrancy.
'VVe instituted extradition proceed-
ings and within a. week had brought
him to Flemington. We put him in
a cell some distance away from
Udell's cell. Udell was in quarters
next to the cell occupied by Alice
Mason, and in the hope that we
would get some valuable information
through conversation detectographs
were installed. The instruments re—
corded Udell as saying once to Alice:
“I’m going to confess. But I’m not
going to tell everything I know. I'm
going to give my life to save you."
We worked McLaughlin against
Udell to the end. Carrying tales
from one to the other we finally
managed to get; from each a state-
ment. that the other had committed
the actual murder. andvthat he him~
' self had beerr interested only in rob-
‘bery. . - 7 ..
They-were: tried separately. At:-
torney,11an-y C. Stout. prosecuting
in each case, and each on the testi-
mony of the other was convicted to
lichimpz-isonment in the State pen-
itentiary. They are time yet. '
In'hls summation before the' jury
in the case or Udell. District At:
tomey stout censigned'to the hand
of Ptovldence' the final execution at
' .j’usflce.
"If the sand 6! Providence had not
coated the earth, withathin cover or '
snow on the morning Richer. d Wyck- ,
on and-Catherine Ann Fisher were
killed,“ he said. “Jame- Wyckofl, an
, mefwords had come from Udell. It' 9 1111100th man. their MW.
would have been convicted and, prob
fabi‘y'em ted. It swan theme at
Providence.“ saved him!" A.» we.
JV
Norwalk Chronicler